Buckboard ham

stickman said:

One more question - I notice on your blog at one point you say that the Cure #1 is added after the brine mixture has cooled down. I have not been doing that - I have been adding all the salts and aromatics into 2-3 pints of water and heating to dissolve, THEN cooling prior to adding the meat. Is heating the nitrite powder in solution a problem?

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Damage to nitrites from heating has been discussed on some blogs and websites, and I've read one person's results after buying a nitrite test kit and doing some experiments, but these were not laboratory experiments. Other discussions mentioned NaNO3 going to NaNO2 when water is heated, and then there are results of nitrates levels before and after cooking vegetables that are high in nitrates. These implied that boiling a curing brine won't harm nitrates.

Manufacturers of various curing agents use a particular process to maintain the nitrites in suspension which is primarily to make sure the nitrites don't settle out from the salt and to keep measuring consistent. Manufacturers also are responsible for testing their product. The bottom line for me is following manufacturer's recommendations. Here is an example label:

stickman said:

Any thoughts about the best temp to pull the meat? At 155-165 I do still get the occasional chunks of gristle, although cutting the ham thin means it is not too offensive in, say, a sandwich. But I'd rather not have them. On the other hand - I kinda get scared I am going to ruin 10 days of work if I let the temp go higher and I end up drying out the meat.

I guess I could try wrapping it after 2-3 hours?

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Always pulled at 150F. Slice thin. No worries.